Back from an interesting vacation. Was hoping to hit the river and golf courses several times but throwing my back out on the first day I was there put a real damper on that. But we had a nice relaxing vacation playing with the new puppy and we did fish out farm pond catching several nice catfish, yellow perch and bluegills all with nightcrawlers.

The smallmouth bass fishing on the river has been on fire. John and his wife fished Upper Black Eddy on Wednesday catching over 30 bass, 5 stripers and a bunch of catfish with live minnows and grubs. Doc and his buddy at Lambertville picked up over 50 fish on the weekend all with grubs, tubes and top water lures. Ken and his buddies at Washington’s Crossing only catching 11 bass but picked up 19 catfish and a bunch of small stripers all with live minnows. Kayaking from Frenchtown to Byran these guys picked up 75 bass and a bunch of other fish with live minnows grubs and top water lures. Charlie wading at Point Pleasant picked up a bunch of bass, small stripers and even had 2 walleyes this past week. He did best with grubs, Blue Fox spinners and 3 inch slug-o’s. Kevin up above at the Water Gap has been boating 15 to 25 bass each day out with shiners, grubs, spinners and tubes. They have been catching a few stripers at night with poppers and shallow crankbaits but all these fish have been 20 to 24 inches. A few guys fishing Long Eddy had a great weekend catching over 100 smallies all with grubs, spinners and Rebel crayfish. Nothing big but allot of 13 to 15 inch bass.

The lower river has still been very good for catfish fishing bunker, shrimp, clams and nightcrawlers. Most of these fish have been 1 to 4 pounds. John out on a bass tournament saying plenty of fish was caught but no size to most. They fished all day and had not fish over 12 inches to weigh in. The winners were all less than 2 pounds. Now Rick got back to me this past week plugging down at the Tacony Bridge catching plenty of smaller stripers with a bass here and there. Smaller rattle traps, 2 and 4 inch white grubs and shad bodies working best. The fisherman in the Raccoon Creek had another good week catching 4 legal stripers 31 to 34 inches and catfish up to 11 pounds all with live eels and bloodworms.

Penn Warner picked up quite a bit this past week. One group has been crushing smallies, largemouth bass, pickerel and even had a few good walleyes this past week. All with live minnows and rubber worms. Plenty of white perch mixed in. Chuck said there have been plenty of perch hitting minnows along the shoreline. And Terry had a great evening with black jitterbugs catching bass 3 to 5 pounds. Core Creek some good reports of decent bass in the back end with live minnows, Spro crankbaits, spinner baits and rubber skirted jigs. The shopping center lake fair for smaller bluegills, bass and catfish. Minnows and worms working best. Silver Lake one fisherman did pretty well with catfish and even picked up 2 smaller carp this past week. Nightcrawlers and Uncle Josh Carp bait was working best. Nockamixon still very good for smaller bass, crappies, yellow perch and pickerel fishing minnows, grubs, spinners and smaller twister tails spinner baits. John had a couple good weekends fishing weedless frogs and smaller jigs outside the pad catching 10 to 15 bass each evening. These fish are 10 to 13 inches. His one buddy fished Lake Warren on Saturday picking up one 19 inch 4 ½ pounds largemouth bass with a weedless rat. He also had several smaller bass mixed in. Few guys out to Marsh Creek catching pickerel and perch with live minnows and nightcrawlers. Group of guys out to Raystown Reservoir for 2 weeks doing pretty much nothing. They even had a guide a few nights for stripers only landing one fish 25 inches with a bucktail. Bass fishing off with only a few smallies on plastic worms in the back coves. Brady’s lake up in the Pocono’s one fisherman did pretty well with smaller pickerel trolling Rebel crick hoppers. He also had plenty of bluegills and perch mixed in.

Stream fishing has been very good with all the warm weather. The upper Pennypack has been great for bigger bluegills, rock bass and even smallies and largemouth bass. These guys have been doing best with spinners, 3 inch Senko worms and top water plugs. The Perkiomen again has been great for bluegills, rock bass and smallies with smaller grubs, spinners and top water lures. Charlie has been up the Tohickon catching plenty of rock bass and bluegills but the smallies have seemed to moved into the river.

Being away for the week I have not gotten much back on saltwater. I know Anthony fishing out of Delaware has been doing great on flounder up to 6 pounds fishing bucktails and Gulp grubs. Frank out of Barnegat crushed the flounder 2 miles out with 4 to 6 ounce bucktails tipped with squid or Gulp grubs. He fished 4 days limiting out each time. Out of Cape May fishing out front some better catches of flounder in the 3 to 6 pound range. Again bucktails and Gulp seems to be the ticket. Off the beach of Sunset Beach one customer picked up 11 smaller flounder with a ½ ounce bucktail tipped with a chartreuse gulp mullet. Still doing well with kingfish off the beaches from Cape May up to Sea Isle. Bloodworms and Fish Bites working best. Now Dick has been crushing the kingfish the past couple weeks out of Atlantic City but this past week said fishing slowed. But off the jetties he has been catching lots of small snapper blues and had one monster striper hit with a live bluefish. Fish was not landed after he took a hard fall on the jetty. And by the amount of hooks I have been selling they must be doing well with blackfish and sea bass off the jetties. Sharking has still been very good fishing the beaches at night from Jersey down to Delaware. Bunker, mackerel and kingfish heads working best.

Union Lake has still been very good for bass, pickerel, perch and crappies. John fishing weedless frogs in the early morning has been catching 5 to 10 fish with a bunch of pickerel mixed in. Steve said perch and crappies were hitting minnows and smaller marabou jigs well Saturday evening. He picked up over 35 fish all decent size. One fisherman on Dennisville picked up a bunch of pickerel with live minnows and Senko worms.

Well that is all I have again for you this week. Looks like a decent weekend coming up so lets get out and catch some fish. Bill

Fished a couple hours at Core Creek catching a 22 pound catfish. John and Robin